DSCOOP FOCUS ON DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Some 1100 printers, including a number from Australia and New Zealand, were at this year’s Dscoop, held in the US, which focused on digital transformation.
The week coincided with a record-breaking year for sales of the B2 version of HP Indigo, and the 1000th B2 press going in. Some 40 per cent of visitors were first time attendees for the event, which had Earvin “Magic” Johnson as the keynote.
Mark Daws and Anthony AJ Jackson, from HP Indigo's ANZ distributor Currie Group, led the group of printers from these shores to the event, which was hosted in St Louis.
During the annual event, HP Indigo showcased the new HP Indigo 200K digital press for flexible packaging, in addition to featuring the HP Indigo 100K digital press, which it says continues to push the analogue to digital market transformation. It also revealed that the first two beta site installs of the new HP Indigo 100K HD were currently underway, in the US and Europe. HPalso gave a debut to the HP Latex R2000 Plus Printer - a hybrid solution that it says is equally strong in both rigid and flexible substrates.
Haim Levit, SVP & general manager, HP Industrial Print, said, “Dscoop is about harnessing the power of community to network, communicate, and innovate. Dscoop is HP’s commitment to building an ecosystem that includes our solution partners and allows them to be agile in today’s economy. Also, this event is the opportunity for the entire Dscoop global community to meet HP personnel, to listen to each other and discuss current and future challenges, and to enable developing a joint roadmap to continued market leadership.”
In the flexible packaging market, Future Ready meant the HP Indigo 200K digital press, with live demonstrations of the press including the end-to-end Digital Pouch factory solution. According to HP the 200K is the most productive flexible packaging press, and which enables printing pouches in days, not weeks. HP said it is based on the only proven technology for on-demand, sustainable flexible packaging, and presents a dramatic step-up, of 30 per cent in speed and 45 per cent in productivity.
“During this last year, we saw the percentage of new customers buying Indigo double. This trend supports our vision of the analog to digital conversion,” said Noam Zilbershtain, VP and general manager of HP Indigo & Scitex, at the Dscoop event. “I’m excited to see this community grow together as we shape the future of the print industry. Only those who dare may fly,” added Zilbershtain. “As an industry leader with a global presence, HP Indigo can provide businesses a degree of resilience during a challenging economic atmosphere. The combination of state-of-the-art presses and advanced software with industry best practices positions us to help the print world become Future-Ready.”
The HP Indigo 100K B2 press enables digital nonstop print capabilities at 6,000 sheets per hour, and, says HP, drives substantial, profitable growth. To date, the 100K press has already set new standards with more than 100 customers having reported output of 100,000 impressions in an eight-hour shift. “We have shown a 40 per cent increase in revenue one year after installing the HP Indigo 100K,” said Brian Scott, President of Chicago-based Blooming Color.
HP Indigo used the event to reveal the new HP Indigo 100K HD, which it says comes with “smooth and razor sharp image quality”, and its first two beta sites, at Miller’s Professional Imaging Lab in the US, and at Orwo Net image processing and digital photo services in Germany.
HP Indigo also highlighted the PrintOS Software Suite, which infuses power into the production floor and envelops it with productivity, quality, creativity and automation tools. The PrintOS Suite highlights the differentiation of the HP Indigo offering and the business growth the company’s software and data promote. The innovative operating system ushers in the digital transformation, and allows customers to digitise their production floor, end-to-end. The HP Indigo PrintOS Site Flow has led to growth of 242 per cent in print volume since 2019; and Spot Master saw a 105 per cent growth in adoption last year.
Dscoop launched a Distributed Print Exchange Platform, which offers HP customers and Dscoop members what it says is an exclusive, competitive advantage, by simplifying outsourcing to a trusted partner, enabling them to broaden their service offerings, expand their reach to new geographies, and reduce delivery time, expenses, and carbon footprint by producing locally. “We are excited to co-operate with dscoop on their DDPE initiative and delighted that they selected HP PrintOS Site Flow as the technology backbone for it,” said Petar Obradovic, director of Industrial Software Solutions, HP Indigo.
HP demonstrated innovations to the HP PageWide Advantage 2200 with high HDNA quality at full speed, 50 per cent faster, and a new version of PrintBeat within PrintOS, that HP says seamlessly provides HP users a similar look and feel, to make it easy for them to work with across the HP portfolio of products.
"Customer growth is our top priority and our true north,” shares Annette Friskopp, global head and general manager, PageWide Industrial. “This is why having a strong and engaged user group is mission-critical to our business. We are excited to share PageWide customer stories at dscoop Edge.”
The HP Large Format stand displayed applications with thermoforming samples, short-run packaging and signage opportunities on a wide range of media, as well as a sustainability section explaining how print service providers can reach what kit says are new levels of sustainability, using the latest large format technology, including the new hybrid HP Latex R2000 Plus Printer.